Bank of America says its fourth-quarter earnings shrank as it cleaned up old problems from its mortgage unit, settling one case with Fannie Mae and another with the government. But the modestly positive results still beat the expectations of analysts.

Legally, banks are forbidden to foreclose on the homes of our nation's deployed servicemembers, and they're supposed to cut them a break on credit card interest, too. Seems Capital One has been breaking those rules -- but it may not be a scandal.

If America's subprime mortgage crisis was an earthquake, Las Vegas would be the epicenter: No U.S. city has suffered more. But all that devastation makes for great TV. Or at least CNBC hopes so, because it's mining that economic disaster for "Flipping Wars: Vegas."

With college costs high and rising, more students are putting themselves deeper into debt than ever. But those huge debt loads don't just pressure graduates to find high-paying jobs: They're also making it nearly impossible for many of them to get mortgages.

The nation's five largest mortgage lenders have agreed to overhaul their industry after deceptive foreclosure practices drove homeowners out of their homes, government officials said Monday. A draft settlement between the banks and U.S. states has been sent to state officials for review.

A spin-off group from Occupy Wall Street, called Occupy Our Homes, has formed to reverse and stop foreclosures. Lately, the group has been using creative tactics to raise awareness about the banking practices that led to the housing bubble.

In the last few years, outreach events by banks and nonprofits have been held all over the country, offering help to distressed homeowners. But even when they get personal invitations to these events, the vast majority of people who need mortgage modifications or short sales aren't showing up.

Regulators want the nation's big banks to reduce what borrowers owe on underwater mortgages, but they're still focused on solutions that rely on banks to voluntarily do the right thing. But we've already seen that won't work, and history shows what will -- giving bankruptcy judges back the right to cram down mortgages.

The Federal Reserve is finally admitting that not all the big banks are healthy: Bank of America won't get to pay increased dividends. But none of those financial giants should be allowed to, and a logical look at the reasons they say they want to dole out the cash makes it totally clear why.

State attorneys general and federal regulators are rushing to settle the robo-signing foreclosure mess created by the banks and get the real estate market back on its feet. But their proposals don't fully address the one of the fundamental problems of the crisis: Who really owns all those homes?

Almost as soon as regulators proposed a settlement for the mortgage mess that would require banks to obey the law, the banks' Republican allies began trying to weaken it through obfuscation and confusion. Read on for some plain English translations of their arguments against the settlement.

As if we needed more proof of the outlaw actions of banks and their agents, The Baltimore Sun reports that 1,000 or more Maryland deeds are likely forgeries created by a foreclosure mill. If the accusation is true, the false deeds will create a nightmare for the innocent people who bought the homes.

A partial settlement plan has been constructed by a group of state attorneys general and federal regulators. In theory, it addresses banks' flawed mortgage servicing, modification and foreclosure practices. In reality, it just lets the banks off the hook.

The Mortgage Electronic Registration System was created by banks to save themselves a boatload in fees by keeping mortgage transfers off the books of local governments. Now, a New York judge says the whole system violates state law, and banks holding MERS mortgages there can't foreclose. So where will this chaotic mess go from here?

A Louisiana bankruptcy case involving a single foreclosure best illustrates the problems with the banks' outsourcing their mortgage default work to firms like LPS. The result of this money-saving maneuver by banks winds up costing everyone else dearly.

Foreclosures nationwide have exposed a swamp of fraudulent documents, but in many parts of Florida, courts have been letting banks ignore the law with impunity. Now, moves by Florida's Supreme Court and its state bar association may finally start cleaning up the fraud there by holding banks -- and lawyers -- accountable.

Bank of America Corp. (BAC) is the subject of a lawsuit that accuses the bank of hiding foreclosure problems that contributed to a drop in its share price.
The suit, filed by a union benefit plan, says Bank of America concealed problems in its recording of mortgages, Reuters reported. This damaged investors when the company suspended foreclosure proceedings last year, the suit says.

A California appeals court has ruled that U.S. Bank conned Claudia Aceves out of her home by tricking her into giving up her bankruptcy protections. Now she can sue the bank for damages and fraud, and conceivably, so could other homeowners in similar situations.

As multiple lawsuits and SEC actions progress in relation to the nation's mortgage mess, it's becoming clear that the misbehaviors of the lawyers involved at all stages were not isolated incidents: The misconduct was systemic, and it's time to start holding those lawyers accountable.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's report concludes that ineffective regulators and big banks were the primary causes of the financial meltdown. Next stop: Government and class action lawsuits to recoup some of what we all lost, and (please please please) criminal charges against the worst offenders too.

Lee County, Fla., has become infamous for the "rocket docket" -- its system of speeding foreclosure cases through the courts. DailyFinance spoke with the Lee County Clerk who says the super-charged system was his idea.

Las Vegas topped the U.S. foreclosure list for 2010. And while foreclosure activity increased from 2009 in most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas, it actually decreased slightly in the worst hit cities.

Yet another problem has begun surfacing in the documents banks have been using to foreclose on homes: false notarizations. Notaries have been attesting legally to signatures they didn't witness, sometimes by people who didn't actually sign, and it's adding to the tangled mess of ownership confusion.